• Registration to Start June 8
• e-registration is unlikely this time
• Registration slips in seven colors, separate colors for all seven days of the week
• registration will last about 76 days
• pilgrims taking aerial route will have to trek seven kms
• First batch of the yatris is scheduled to have darshan on July 1 from both the tracks
• Last darshan will be performed on August 24

123 branches of Jammu and Kashmir Bank Limited (JKBL) will start registration of Shri Amarnath ji shrine pilgrims, tentatively from June 8 to 10 all over the country. The registration process will last 76 days during which a maximum number of 4.10 lakh pilgrims will be registered for annual Amarnath Yatra. Shri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB), like the previous year, has entered into an agreement with Jammu and Kashmir Bank Limited (JKBL) for registration of 4.10 lakh pilgrims-2.5 lakh each from Baltal and Pahalgam tracks.

The agreement has been finalised and the process of registration will begin most likely from June 8 or latest by June 10.The registration will continue up to August 22 for Pahalgam (Chandanwari) route and up to August 23 for shorter Baltal track. Annual pilgrimage to Shri Amarnath ji shrine is scheduled to begin from July 1 and will conclude on August 24 coinciding with Shravan Purnima and Raksha Bandhan. The yatra will last 55 days.

Highest number of 26 J&K Bank branches will register the yatris in New Delhi. Fourteen branches have been designated for registration in Mumbai and 13 in Jammu and Kashmir. Seventy branches will offer registration to pilgrims in rest of the country including Chandigarh zone, Chennai, Lucknow, Ahmedabad etc. 5000 pilgrims will be registered every day by the J&K Bank branches including 2500 each for the two tracks-Baltal and Pahalgam. As the registration will last about 76 days, the Bank will register a maximum of 4.10 lakh pilgrims. Depending upon rush for the pilgrims in some zones, more yatris can be registered on some days to complete the quota of 4.10 lakh. The Bank has printed 4 lakh tickets but could add 10,000 more, if the situation warranted.

To ensure that the pilgrims registered for a particular day undertake journey on the scheduled date, the Bank has this time published registration slips in seven colors, separate colors for all seven days of the week. On Monday, white color slips will be issued for Pahalgam route and craft paper for Baltal track. On Tuesday, it will be red color for Pahalgam and white for Baltal while on Wednesday the pilgrims will get ground orange slips for Pahalgam and red for Baltal route.

Colors will be changed to yellow for Pahalgam and ground orange for Baltal on Thursday while it will be green for Pahalgam and yellow for Baltal on Friday, blue for Pahalgam and green for Baltal on Saturday and craft paper for Pahalgam and blue for Baltal on Sunday.The color slips will help the security and police personnel on duty to ensure that only the registered pilgrims and that too of the same date undertook journey to have darshan of holy Ice Lingam of Lord Shiva. The J&K Bank will notify its branches designated for the pilgrims through advertisements in newspapers nation wide to ensure that the aspirants could get to know of their nearest branch for registration.

The e-registration is unlikely this time, sources said, adding the decision to do away registration, sitting at home, might have been taken as a security measure. Last year, a number of pilgrims had registered themselves via internet. First batch of the yatris is scheduled to have darshan of holy Ice Lingam of Lord Shiva on July 1 from both the tracks. Last darshan will be performed on August 24 on the occasion of Shravan Purnima. As reported, the administration has decided to make tight security arrangements, almost at par with last year, for the yatra. IGP Kashmir Farooq Ahmed and IGP Jammu Ashok Gupta will supervise security arrangements in their respective zones. The deployment of para-military personnel will start from June 15 and it will be completed well ahead of scheduled date of start of yatra.The State has requisitioned nearly 75 additional companies of para-military from the Centre which were expected to start reaching here before June 15. Rest of the security will be met through internal resources including para-military deployed in less sensitive areas and local police.The SASB has already decided that air services for this year’s yatra will be operated from Baltal as well as Pahalgam but only up to Panjtarni, which means that the pilgrims taking aerial route will have to trek seven kms to reach the holy cave shrine.